Our Top 10 Articles from 2016 – The Story So Far

Which topics are making waves and what are you, our readers, most interested in?

We’re a little over halfway through 2016, and we thought we’d take a look back at some of our favourite pieces from the year so far. These are pieces that have generated the most conversations, turned the most heads and inspired us to look at issues affecting independent hotels from new and interesting angles.

Individually, these articles give insights into the nitty-gritty details of revenue management, digital marketing and driving direct bookings. Together, though, they’re a great look at which topics are resonating with the industry as a whole. Take a look:

The past few years have given birth to a wide variety of revenue management ‘best practices’ and tools. What’s the equation for success? These 10 key trends in revenue management today are the ones that we think are the ones to take advantage of if you want your profits to soar.

Direct bookings are no longer an alternative to third party sites and more traditional booking methods . Instead, they are becoming a major priority for huge, multinational hotel chains. What can independent hotels do to build their direct bookings, though?

A good book direct strategy is near the top of most hotelier’s list this year. Booking direct is becoming the way to grow profit margins. We’ve created an in-depth list of 4 areas your book direct strategy needs to pay attention to, including links to guides and resources to help you get into the gritty details.

The past two years have seen a relatively new product category hit the market for hotels: price check widgets. This sudden proliferation has come hand in hand with the increasing move to drive direct bookings.

How do price check widgets work? What are the benefits to your hotel? Which price check widgets are out there?

2015 came with a slew of changes to the digital marketing landscape. The growth didn’t stop there, though – mobile is exploding and technology is expanding. As digital marketers on the cutting edge of new and effective ways to grow business for hoteliers, we put some serious thought into what 2016 would bring.

How do you decide where to focus your efforts to fill your hotel? And how do you optimise the elements you choose to invest your time and money in? We developed 18 tips that’ll help you get more bookings.

Take a look, and discover the best places to focus your efforts, and how to create a great digital experience for potential guests to reel in those bookings.

If you’re in the hospitality industry, you should know how important good, actionable hotel data is. Data is key to making your hotel rock. We’re going to go over what kind of data hoteliers should be using, why data is so important, and give you some specific ways to use your data. Let’s get started.

Here are the statistics that we thought in January would be key to business decisions in 2016. Most of these statistics were focused on the importance of mobile and the growing complexity of the customer journey. Here’s the numbers, the meaning behind them, and how we hoped they’d drive your success this year. How have we done?

With this guide, you’ll learn how to plan, launch and track a marketing campaign for your hotel. Marketing campaigns help fill an off peak season, reward loyal customers, and build brand awareness. Here are the steps to help you create that campaign, and a downloadable version of the checklist to help you.

Th-th-that’s all, folks!

Those are our 10 top articles from the year so far. Which was your favorite? Which pieces resonated with you, and what do you want to see more of?

Focused exclusively on the hotel sector, Net Affinity has collated the brightest, most commercially focused, experienced and passionate team of online marketers, account managers, designers and developers whose combined skill set ensures our clients online success and continued growth.
We created this blog because we wanted to share our expertise with you, and offer you the knowledge that over 15 years experience in the hotel industry has given us.